Chapter 14! Thanks for the reviews!

As some of you may have noticed, I've already removed this fic from the category of 'Athrun and Cagalli' because someone said that it doesn't seem to fit in there anymore, so there, that's my answer. Please don't get me wrong, I clearly understood your point, the truth is I already know that since chapter 1, I just thought noone would mind but since you did, I guess I have to explain myself.

I'm sorry for deleting your review, I kinda got carried away and over-reacted, but now I have my thoughts in place. I want you to know that I'm seriously trying my hardest to keep the focus on AsuCaga, unfortunately, my musings aren't going in their direction. I'm really sorry if this isn't as much AsuCaga as you would've wanted, you don't have to read this anymore if you don't want to.

It's really painstaking to fight against your own musings, I sent her away because of that but I'm still mentioning her because I really can't help it, I feel the necessity of her role, so again, I'm sorry. For those who can't stand Flay, please just stop reading this because she'll be back in the next chapter. That's all, thank you and please bear with me.

Read on with open minds, people. Thank you!

"Secrets And Lies"

Chapter 14: Déjà vu

Athrun and Cagalli decided to have dinner first before going home, this time they went to a restaurant. Athrun didn't seem willing to go back to a fast food chain after what happened earlier and Cagalli didn't want to go back home yet because she knows Kira will scold her for going out instead of helping with the preparations.

After ordering and receiving their food, Athrun noticed that they didn't seem to have much conversation going on and Cagalli was kinda quiet since they left the observatory. It really bothered him so he thought about what couples should talk about when he realized that he doesn't really know much about her, except for her name and that she ran away.

it was then when he broke the silence, "so... why did you ran away?" he was so casual that Cagalli almost didn't know what hit her, it's a good thing she decided to ponder about her answer first before opening her big mouth.

"be-because... I-I..." she was stuttering which made Athrun worry even more but he didn't want to force the answer out of her.

"it's okay if you don't want to tell me, I was just curious anyway." he said looking back down into his plate.

Cagalli stared at him, "do I have to tell him now?" she swallowed hard and took a deep breath, "I ran away because of my father, we had a fight about something."

"that's it?" he asked.

"what do you mean by that?" she got a little irritated, it took her great courage to say that, of course she wasn't anywhere near the truth yet but you gotta start somewhere.

"I just thought it would take more than that for someone to make a decision as reckless as running away." he said calmly, not noticing Cagalli's mood shift.

"you mean, I'm reckless?" she's mad.

"well, yes." he said plainly.

"how dare you?" she screamed in her mind while trying to think of a good defense. her face was turning red from anger while her eye brow started twitching.

Athrun finally noticed this but unfortunately for Cagalli, he liked it.

after a few more moments of silence from her, he asked the obvious. "are you mad?"

"no." she looked away, he smiled.

"that's a shame." he said then, Cagalli looked at him. "you're cute when you're mad." he grinned and she blushed furiously.

"how the hell am I suppose to tell you the truth when you're fooling around like that?" she thought as she looked away.

Athrun knew that he wasn't going anywhere on getting to know her more but he can't help it, she's so cute. amused, he smiled even bigger on the inside and decided to try getting serious again.

"so... what did you fight about?" he examined her expression and saw the blush wear off as she turned to him.

she looked straight in his eyes and with a serious tone she said, "he was forcing me to get engaged."

Athrun was crestfallen.

Mir, Stella and the five bodyguards were having dinner altogether after Mir's insistence last time, of course now she kinda regrets suggesting the idea in the first place because of Dearka.

Mir was seating in front of Dearka which makes it even harder to avoid him, she wasn't able to explain at all about Kira because Shinn suddenly came and interrupted them.

she heaved a deep sigh, "Am I gonna tell him? he's bound to ask me about it again, later. I have to think of a good lie but I'm not a good liar like Flay. what the hell am I suppose to say? should I tell him the truth?—wait, can I even trust him?" she glanced at Dearka, he noticed her and smirked. "no, I can't trust him... somebody kill me!" she mentally cursed herself for leaving the door open, she should've been more careful.

"Mir? are you all right?" Stella's voice snapped her back to reality.

she was still a bit stiff when she answered, "ah... yeah."

"it's awfully quiet here now, don't you think?" Dearka grinned at her.

"damn you." she glared at him but it only made his grin grow bigger.

"would you stop that! you perverted bastard!" Yzak slapped Dearka's head causing the latter to wince.

"oww...!" Dearka rubbed his head.

"even if Flay's gone you can't harass Mir." Yzak warned.

"I'm not harassing her! we're good friends, right Mir?" Dearka turned to her.

"whatever... thanks for that Yzak." indeed she was grateful.

Athrun and Cagalli were already on their way home when they stopped at a park, Cagalli wanted to waste as much time as she could so it'd be easy to avoid confrontations with Kira later. Also, she wanted to give it another try, she wouldn't want Athrun to jump into conclusions, not that he would since that's not like him but she wanted to make sure anyway.

she sat on a bench, he followed her. he wanted to ask about her plans, Chris was there to convince her to go back home, after all. but he didn't now where to begin. he is quite aware that for her to stay with him would be troublesome but he didn't want her to go. he wants her to just be by his side no matter what, that's it, that's what's important but he can't be selfish.

"what do you wanna do?" he meant, her plans regarding her runaway.

"I don't know but I don't wanna go back... not yet." she meant, to go back home to the Zala estate.

"not yet? so, you still want to go back?" he asked again trying to make sure.

"yes, of course. I live there, after all." she said not really thinking about it.

Athrun swallowed hard, "she still wants to go back home, I can't stop her." he thought.

"He's acting weird, doesn't he want me to stay? I've got nowhere else to go." she thought.

"Calla, listen... no matter what happens, whatever you do, I love you." he smiled at her. "even if you decide to leave in the future, right now, you're still here so I'm happy."

Cagalli blushed instantly and she was already prepared to say the same thing when he suddenly stood up and said, "let's go home." then, he turned his back.

She hurriedly went after him and hugged him from his back, for a moment time stood still. He then, faced her and they kissed.

It was different, the feeling wasn't as much bliss as the first time. Athrun had hesitations and Cagalli could sense that but she didn't react, she was guilty.

Mir took Stella by the hand to the comfort room, away from the guys. She was starting to get desperate, Dearka isn't really making this any easier for her. It's good that she was able to buy some time but that won't last long. She had to do something to, at least, occupy the guys while she proceeds with the plan.

She's not really thinking that something must've happened, she would rather think of it in a way that things made sense to her, which is, Flay arranging some stuff.

she held Stella's hand between hers as she said, "Stella, please promise me that whatever happens you'll stand by my side and play along with everything that I say and do, okay?" that was all she could come up with after being somewhat threatened.

"okay, Stella will be helpful." she answered.

Mir smiled at her then, they went out. They can't really stay in there for a long time because the guys will surely become suspicious and the last thing that they want right now is attention.

After returning to the room with the five guys, they were greeted back by grave tension. The atmosphere was almost unbearable, the guys were all still and silent until Mir broke it.

"what's wrong? did you guys find out something?" she asked.

At first noone answered then she noticed Dearka staring at her, "Commander Le Creuset is coming home tomorrow."

Kira was able to talk to Lenore about Flay but he got no answers, though she did promise to investigate. Also, he was informed about the coming home of the Chairman for the pre-celebration. He and Cagalli has met the Chairman before so, to lie would be impossible, Lenore said that she can't promise anything about that either. They would have to sort things out on their own. Who knows what kind of catastrophe might happen once the Chairman found out the prince and princess of Orb were acting as servants in his mansion.

"And then, there's the other more complicated problem... come to think of it, where the hell are those two? It's already late!" Kira thought as he paced back and forth his room, rubbing his forehead with his other hand in his hip. He looked really problematic.

"what the hell is he doing?" Shiho muttered to herself as she was watching Kira through the window. "is this guy really a prince? that is just so hard to believe... but then..." she wanted to watch more but the sound of a car engine disturbed her and she decided to hide behind a tree.

It was Athrun's car, he finally arrived with Cagalli.

"and here comes the princess... I better get back to the kitchen." Shiho thought as she went through the back.

Athrun heaved a deep sigh as he got out of the car, "Chris is sure to scold her." he thought, looking at his watch as it says 10:47.

He then opened Cagalli's door to help her out when the main door of the mansion suddenly opened revealing a somewhat pissed Kira.

Athrun and Cagalli gulped as Kira went straight to the both of them and grasped Cagalli by the wrist.

"we need to talk, now." he said as he was pulling her towards the mansion.

Cagalli looked back at Athrun and yelled, "goodnight Athrun, see you tomorrow."

"yeah, goodnight." Athrun could only heave another sigh as he watched her being pulled away. "well, I guees I can't blame him. I better apologize tomorrow."

As Kira and Cagalli entered his room, Cagalli yelled at him. "what the hell is your problem? that was rude!"

Kira put his hands on her shoulders, "we've got bigger problems..." he took a deep breath before calming himself a little and saying, "Flay's gone missing! and Chairman Zala is coming home, tomorrow!"

"What the hell am I doing here?" Mir asked Dearka as they were walking through the shopping district the next morning.

"what do you mean by that? this is a date, you know." Dearka answered with a smirk.

"I know that! what I meant was, shouldn't you be worried? Le Creuset is coming home today, isn't he?" Mir glared at him.

"yeah but I'm sure those other guys can handle him." his smile never left his face.

Back at Le Creuset's estate.

"where the hell is Dearka?" Yzak's voice was as loud as ever.

"Commander is coming home any second." Nicol added with a tone of anxiety.

"come to think of it, Mir's gone as well." Shinn added, looking at Stella who was sitting by herself in the sofa.

"you mean, those two went out?" Rey asked.

"probably." Shinn answered.

"what? why now?" Yzak asked pissed.

"maybe he wants to relax himself before facing Commander." Nicol pondered out loud.

"yeah, right. he's probably just trying to escape Commander's wrath." Shinn said sarcastically.

"I'm gonna kill him when he comes back." Yzak muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.

Rey and Nicol could only sigh.

Cagalli was serving breakfast to Athrun in his balcony. As she placed his food on the table, Athrun was just staring at her intently. When she finished, he called for her attention and looked really serious.

"Calla, I want to introduce you to my father, later. Do you mind?" he asked.

"what? of all the things you could ask me, why that?" she screamed in her mind. "but won't I meet him eventually? there is no need for that." she laughed nervously.

"nonsense, I want be there when you meet him." he said with a smile.

he looked so happy that Cagalli couldn't do anything but nod.

she then exited his room for they still have finishing touches to do with the ballroom.

after closing his door, she almost jumped when she heard someone's voice.

"need an escape?"

it came from Shiho who was probably standing there the whole time, she must've eavesdropped too.

"Uhmm, what are you talking about?" Cagalli kept herself calm.

Shiho smiled, "we're coming short on wines, I was told to order some quickly so I'm heading out. wanna come?"

Mir was walking beside Dearka when she started feeling uncomfortable. all this time she thought Dearka would start questioning her about what he heard when they got alone but he has never mentioned any of that yet.

"what are you doing?" Mir asked all of a sudden.

"what? I'm not doing anything." Dearka said.

"I meant, aren't you even gonna ask me about 'that'?" she looked down.

"you don't want me to ask about it right? so, I won't. besides, I know you won't do anything to Flay, it's for sure that you're on her side." he said plainly.

Mir was stunned, she couldn't believe the things he had said, "maybe... just maybe I could trust him..." she thought as she stopped walking, just outside a certain store. Dearka noticed this and turned to her as she tugged on his sleeve.

Mir was looking straight at him, her eyes almost pleading.

"what's wrong?" he asked, getting worried because of her expression.

she tried to answer but stopped when the store's door opened as Cagalli and Shiho came out.

Mir's mouth was left wide open, her expression changed from seriously almost pleading to complete shock.

Dearka blinked twice before looking at his back to see Cagalli's mouth opened equally as wide as Mir's.

Shiho stared at Cagalli then, she looked at Mir who was with Dearka.

"Déjà vu, huh?" Shiho thought to herself as she smiled on the inside.

Please Review! It's the only way I know how many people have read this. Help me make it better. I'm open to comments, questions, suggestions, anything as long as you review it.

No flames, please respect that this is my Fic. Thank you!

(.^_^.)

Lynx